My First Dose of Halloween As A Parent Is Not What I Expected

31Oct

I had no idea how big of a deal Halloween was as a parent of a young child.

We were warned to buy a costume early as the good ones would likely sell out. We decided to buy Tommy a shark costume from Pottery Barn Kids in September. I planned to be a shark victim swimmer and Nick a lifeguard but I procrastinated on our outfits and am now trying to paint the word lifeguard on red t-shirts for the both of us. I waited too long to have something shipped. I thought of my son of course, but not myself.

On Wednesday, Tommy wore his costume to music class. On Friday, he wore his costume to a Halloween party at the Little Lovage Club. Sunday, he wore his costume to the Tadpole Halloween block party. And now today, which is actually Halloween, he will be wearing his costume again for the 4th time for the Halloween party at our playground before the big kids go trick or treating. Nick and I will be wearing our t-shirts costumes as well.

I had no idea there would be so many costume wearing opportunities!

I remember my Mother making my costume every year from scratch. We literally went to a fabric store where she got fabric and I selected a pattern of what I wanted to be for Halloween. She learned how to sew from home economics in High School. I wanted to learn how to sew but gave up after a few lessons and a failed attempt to make a tube top out of a pillow case at home. I wish I could have learned this instead of wood working in 7th grade, seems like a more handy skill to have considering I have zero use for a saw living in the city. Poor Tommy is now doomed to show up wearing the same halloween costume as 3 other kids at any given Halloween party.

Any speaking of store bought costumes, why do all the infant costumes have headpieces? Most kids I’ve learned HATE wearing them.

Tommy is not a big fan of wearing the shark head portion of his costume so he looks more like a fish or dolphin.

I refuse to obviously go trick or treating tonight. Tommy doesn’t even eat candy. He hates wearing half of his costume, so why do I keep putting it on him and going to Halloween parties?

Tommy LOVES other kids and music even at just 9.5 months old. I usually take a picture and then take off his hat, I’m not that mean of a mom! Holidays are a great excuse to throw a party and I love having a stimulating environment to bring my son where he can interact with other kids.

I will admit that I’ve had more candy than I expected. The parties we’ve been to know the kids are too young to have any but still provide it for the parents, which is thoughtful, right? The wine store actually had the best variety oddly enough.

Speaking of candy, Whole Foods had 50% off Halloween candy on Saturday and I stocked up on my favorite healthier brand alternatives, to of course have them at home so I can eat them.

Unreal Candy years ago sent me a bunch of bags and I ate them so quickly I swore I could never buy them again. Finally, they came out with mini bags for Halloween which is great for portion control. Let’s be honest… for 10 mini bags you’ll pay about $6 and I don’t realistically see many people buying these to give out tonight. They are great to switch out the unhealthier candy though.

As a child, I remember Halloween being celebrated on one, maybe two days tops! Now it has become a week long event. It used to be an excuse to dress slutty but now, it’s an opportunity to see friends, take pictures of my son in a costume and eat candy myself. Which makes me realize, it’s still pretty much all about me.

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3 Comments

So true about the headpieces! Adam (also 9.5 months!) was a zebra for Halloween (or the day before, and the day before before Halloween…) and the headpiece, while super cute, is only there for the pictures because he was not a fan of keeping it on haha. And I am super addicted to Unreal peanut butter cups….

Happy Halloween, Fit Fam! I’ve always been a fan of your blog, and I’m loving it even more with Tommy and mom stuff. As a first time mom -- thank you! Your honesty and humor is so refreshing in the sea of intense mom blogs out there -- yikes.

Completely unrelated, but I have to ask: Did Tommy’s naps ever get longer? I have a 3 month old catnapper. The sleep books are making me feel like I have to choose between being a slave to a rigid nap schedule or getting out and actually doing things! Basically, I really appreciate your HIIT workout -- ha. Any advice?

Thanks! Yes and no. I does take long naps a couple days a week in his stroller inside our entry way a couple days a week. It is unpredictable. He still will not nap longer than 30 minutes in his crib. The only way he naps in his crib is if he falls asleep nursing or on his grandmas shoulder -- we transfer him then to his crib but he only sleeps for 30 mins when we do that. It’s nice that I’m not tied to my house. He naps on the go and it makes life easier for the most part but not all the time. I do wish I had trained him to nap in his crib when he was younger but the timing would have meant that we would have been indoors all summer and 30 minute beach trips. I didn’t realize having him nap on the beach was making him accustomed to napping on the go but it made for a fantastic summer for us as parents 😉

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My name is Sarah and my goal is to enable your passion for healthy living without giving up your social life. I am a certified personal trainer and mom to Tommy living in Boston, MA.

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